Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon had his interview to replace Jim Leyland as manager today and afterward told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com: “I thought it went very well. Let’s just wait and see.”

I look forward to the day when a managerial candidates leaves an interview, calls up a national reporter, and says: “Oh my god, that was terrible. Their questions stunk and my answers were worse. So humiliating. Gonna go cry now.”

Anyway, as Craig Calcaterra noted earlier this week McClendon has been with Leyland for a long time, would represent perhaps the least possible change for the Tigers of any candidate, and has previous managing experience with the Pirates from 2001-2005 (during which time he compiled a 336-446 record).

My guess is the players would be least disrupted by McClendon. Talented team, good pitching, only a hole or two to fill. Should be in contention again next year. A manager with a much different outlook could disrupt things.

I would love to see Lloyd get this job. I was always a huge fan of his. He was never a great (or even good) manager. I “just liked him” though. Maybe serving as Leyland’s right hand helped his managerial skills.

Do any of these interviews go bad? Does anybody ever say, “the guy was a real dick, I wouldn’t take him if he worked for free,” or, “the jerk tried to punch me when I asked if he used drugs, we had to call the cops?”

McClendon as a Detroit coach is 1-8 in WS games, including last years sweep. Tigers bats put up the 3rd worst offensive performance in the history of mlb WS against the Giants. This year, Tigers bats again fell silent v. Boston. Why would anything change in the future under McClendon? Lloyd is Leyland’s apprentice.

I’m not usually subjective- but considering the construction of that sentence, and ending with “sabernet”, I’m going to go out on a limb and say due to your intelligence level, your opinion is useless.

Hey I’m a darkie and I’m good at math and stuff. In fact part of my graduate degree includes advanced statistical measures. I hope I just caused your pin sized head to explode. And yes, you are a racist.

I hate this type of philosophy. I understand the idea that…asst coach so-and-so has been with long time respected coach forever so it will be exactly the same.

Only it isn’t. McClendon has been filling a role under Leyland, but he just can’t magically be Leyland. Just because a guy has worked well under a well respected guy doesn’t mean he now gets this kind of respect. Coaches/managers have to be their own man……stepping in under the idea that I’m going to operate this team the way Jim would have when he was here and do things the same way just won’t work. Players won’t respect him like Jim because he’s not Jim.

Jim is gone. Jim must be replaced. If they hire McClendon, it should be because they think McClendon is the best possible manager for this team……not because someone familliar is….well…..familliar. It won’t work.

IMO, someone familliar who will come in and try and do things the same has just as big of chance of failure as someone new who will try and do things differently. I would hope Dombrowski is seeing this as a chance to hire the best coach for the team and not just keeping the status quo.

If they hire McClendon, it doesn’t mean they hired him because he’s familiar automatically. I agree that they should hire him if they believe he’s the best, but the fans have to accept that very well may be the case and we are NEVER going to know the real reasoning.

It’s a lose lose for Lloyd. He gets the job, and well look at a couple of the above comments. “He got it because he’s Jim’s friend..” “He’s only getting it to have as little disruption as possible…”. He doesn’t get it, well he doesn’t get it. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.

Pretty crappy.

Dombrowski is the best GM in baseball. If he hires Lloyd, it’s because Lloyd is the best fit for the job. Tiger fans need to knock the “computer screen GM” routine and let Dombrowski do what he does. Who else is out there anyway? Dusty Baker? Like him but no thanks.

I agree, it will be a tough job for him to take. I wonder if DD is taking any input from Miggy or JV in the matter. Not that they would be determining factors, but I’m sure their opinions may count for something.http://minoringinbaseball.com/

Bullpen issues aside the Tigers need a skipper who is not afraid to demand that the guys play disciplined and clean baseball. Talent makes you a contender, but t it’s the little things that make you a champion. Not sure that McClendon is the man for this particular job based on his current body of work with the team. To win a World Series they’re gonna have to tighten the screws with a manager who pays attention to all the details.